An intimate knowledge of media law is essential to helping our clients effectively. One of our core skills is in obtaining injunctions at very short notice to prevent the publication of private information. This can only be achieved when there is no prevailing public interest in the material in question. The court will look to see whether, on the facts of the case, the right to privacy should outweigh the right to freedom of expression.
Many of the injunctions we successfully seek are obtained anonymously, so that the person who has sought the injunction cannot be named. That ensures that the injunction itself does not become a subject of media reports about the celebrity who sought it.
Sometimes, when it is in the interest of our client, we choose not to obtain an anonymous injunction. It may be important to ensure publishers, and the world at large, are aware of an injunction, to prevent it being breached
In one novel case, we were the first lawyers for several centuries to use a “John Doe” injunction. We did so in order to stop a copy of the fifth Harry Potter book from being published before its release date. The unusual feature of a “John Doe” injunction is that it can be obtained even when you do not know the identity of the person who is threatening to publish information. We served the injunction on various Internet Service Providers, newspapers and other media so that if they received a copy of the unpublished manuscript, they knew not to publish it.